Cao Yanlu’s Dwelling-Securing (Zhenzai) Ritual in the Context of Medieval Chinese Household Religion

Cao Yanlu, ruler of Dunhuang from 976 CE to 1002 CE, performed a dwelling-securing ritual as a response to a portentous incident that happened in his house. In this paper, I analyze the characteristics of the ritual by noting Cao’s consultation with the occult arts and the practical logic of his religious eclecticism. The ritual is testimony to the complexities of medieval Chinese religious life, in which the occult arts featured prominently. I then propose to take Cao’s dwelling-securing ritual as an instance of household religion that cuts across the distinction between popular religion and elite religion. When we appreciate Cao’s ritual in light of the continuing tradition of household religion in ancient and medieval China, we can go beyond the framework of interreligious interactions in accounting for the inclusion of Buddhist and Daoist spirits in the ritual but rather understand these spirits as new demonological idioms adopted by household religion.